Don’t worry Ellie B, you’re coming with us

After we got the keys and poked our head into A Bitty Better in the Liverpool neighborhood of Galeville, my dear wife Karen drove the two miles down the road to leave me back off at the library to finish my Friday work day. Then came three days of packing up our lives at the…

That sweet first moment with the keys to A Bitty Better

So my dear wife Karen picked me up from work at the Liverpool Public Library two Fridays ago at 10:25 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., we were meeting our friend and realtor Mary at A Bitty Better for the final walk-through to make sure everything met our approval. We had not set foot inside its doors…

These sales take time, and then wham!

Before moving into the new place in the Galeville section of Liverpool, we had to move out of the old house in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. My dear wife Karen and I had lived there since 2004. It was a great dozen years. It never dawned on me to leave. After all, this…

A welcoming blanket of white feels A Bitty Better

I woke up Wednesday morning and was semi-startled by the sight from the front window. Our cars were getting hit by a dusting of snow on Oct. 26, 2016. By the time I was ready to hit the road to my job at the Liverpool Public Library, I had to take a brush to the…

Feeling fallish at Onondaga Lake Park

The green held on for a good, long time at Onondaga Lake Park.’ As I took my latest lunchtime stroll from the Liverpool Public Library, it looked way more like fall had arrived on the shores of Onondaga Lake Park. I had to pull my iPhone 6 from my pocket as I circled on my…

Meet the Liverpool Public Library’s Flat Stanley Grace Flener

Flat Stanley has been around for while. In fact, the character came from the mind of children’s book author Jeff Brown and pen of Tom Ungerer in 1964. I came across the little dude, though, at my job as communications specialist at the Liverpool Public Library. As part of the Flat Stanley Project, the Pinckneyville…

A lovely start for Jeff and Kristin at the Marietta House

Jeff and Kristin started their married life together a week ago today at the Marietta House. All signs point toward great success, taking their choices for this service and reception into consideration. In my 33 years living in Central New York, I’d never been to this spot some 25 miles southwest of Syracuse. My bad.…

A sign of the times in downtown Syracuse

Seen on a work stroll from car to the Central branch of the Onondaga County Public Library on South Salina Street in downtown Syracuse was a sign on top of an otherwise nondescript general merchandise store. This, my friends, is a sign of our times. No run-of-the-mill 5 and 10 store this, those of you…

Say hello to the Limp Lizard bowling squad

I am quite happy with the new sponsor of our squad in the Thursday Night Men’s Bowling League at Bowling Green in North Syracuse. Limp Lizard has replaced Cici’s. Thankfully. At long last, in my book. We rolled an entire season not receiving anything from the buffet pizza franchise that closed its Syracuse area locations…

Apple tasting with the in-laws as I meet Chuck

My brother-in-law Chuck was one of the few on my dear wife Karen’s side who did not make the Miner Family Reunion back in the summer of 2015. The man works awfully hard. This I know because he is up from Hot Springs, Ark., for his job as a quality and safety inspector in the…